Working memory: a key to effective communication

Last spring I went up to Sundsvall to attend a friend's wedding. After a couple of hours on the train, I finally arrived and checked into the hotel. Once there, I was given a piece of paper in my hand along with the room key. I quickly looked at it and only saw a mass of text. Interpreting what was written had to wait until later – at that moment, I just wanted to go up to the room and drop off all my packing.

After settling into my room and landing after the trip, I picked up the phone. What about wifi? That's right, I had received a note about it! Now I had more time to read through the text. Yes, there was wifi, but without a "password". Okay...

This is what the note looked like:

Oh how my designer brain started to itch! If I (who is used to handling information in all possible and impossible formats) found the note difficult to decipher standing in a busy hotel reception – what about others? For example, for the stressed business traveler talking on the phone about an email that was just sent and needs to be read immediately? Or for the football coach who needs to find out when the team should gather at the reception the next morning for breakfast, before all the players disappear to their hotel rooms?

The importance of the right format

What I want to say with these examples is that format is a crucial factor in all types of communication, even offline. Sure, you can ask the receptionist and get an answer right away. What is important to remember is that the human brain has a limited working memory . If it is also a noisy environment, as in this case, then the working memory is further strained. The small details are lost, such as the fact that breakfast is served an hour later on Saturdays and Sundays. This is where the function of the note comes into play.

Purpose of the note

Its content refreshes the memory of what the receptionist informed about. It should also provide information about what was not clear at check-in, such as that it should be quiet after 11 pm.

So, what makes this format inaccessible to the recipient's working memory?

There are mainly three factors that contribute:

1. No hierarchy: the text is written upside down with the exception of an underlined heading.

2. No visual cues: the format lacks visual elements that guide the reader to the section they want information about, such as icons or clear headings.

3. Hard-to-read font : The font belongs to the script font family. It is a font that is intended to imitate handwriting, and should not be used for informational text. Scripts are also extra hard to read on paper copies.

The careful reader will also notice a few grammatical errors, such as the days being written with an initial capital letter. These words are not proper nouns and should therefore be written in lowercase. But enough about grammar, now it's about format!

Two format options

Of course, I couldn't help but come up with two alternative formats for the note. We'll start with an alternative where headings help the reader decode the content.

In this example, we have made the following improvements:

1. A clear hierarchy: The eye can easily tell the difference between the content using headings and body text.

2. Easy-to-read fonts: The letters of the fonts are the same thickness and are structured in a way that helps the eye form the word image in a natural way.

3. Only necessary information: Superfluous information has been cleared away to keep the content as concrete as possible without reducing the welcoming tone.

4. Important information is clarified : When breakfast is served and contact information is highlighted to distinguish it from the rest of the text, in this case through bold text.

Icons instead of headings

An alternative to headings is icons . This type of graphic can be especially useful when the format's space is limited. As an added bonus, it is language-free, as the vast majority of people can understand an icon as long as it is clear and of a generally accepted type.

This leads us to option 2 where icons replace the headings:

In this example, we have taken the previous format as our starting point. All body text has been written in the same font but in a slightly larger size to maintain accessibility. The main difference is that the headings have been replaced by icons, making the format more airy.

Summary

When you're formatting information, it's a good idea to keep working memory in mind. Our working memory is a fantastic mechanism that helps us focus on what's important at the moment. That focus can be disrupted by our surroundings, such as the noisy lobby of a hotel. Add to that the fact that you may have slept poorly the night before and are hungry. The result? Poorer focus and fewer details pass through the working memory network to be stored in long-term memory.

The slightly critical person is probably wondering what I want to say with this. What, can the format conjure up fatigue, hunger and chaos? The answer is: no, absolutely not. However, a well-thought-out format will always make it easier for the message to get through the noise of impressions. Even if you don't read the note there and then in the lobby, you might glance at it again in the elevator on the way up to the hotel room to find out when breakfast starts tomorrow.

Before we close this post, I want to give a few tips along the way:

1. Test the material in the environment where it will meet the recipient.

2. Keep it simple , especially if it's targeting different types of recipients.

3. Last tip: don't use script fonts for important information, whether online or offline. Just don't!

See ya!

J.